“How do we break down the journey into bite-sized pieces, so it doesn’t feel overwhelming or insurmountable?” says Jesse Levinson, the cofounder and CEO of Zoox. “This moment is a huge one, but the service is still unpaid and fairly limited.” Zoox launched in 2014, and though it’s been testing its technology in San Francisco, at its Foster City, California, headquarters, and in Las Vegas for years, this will be the first time it’s allowing anyone willing to download an app to ride. The company was acquired by Amazon in 2020 for a reported $1.2 billion.

Olsen, the May Mobility CEO, says he is comfortable with the company’s slower launch process after watching others rush to put self-driving cars on the road. “One of the things we’ve seen across the industry is that a vehicle might perform brilliantly some of the time, but then will do wildly inappropriate things in the edge cases,” Olsen says. He declines to say exactly when the firm would remove the safety drivers from its vehicles, or when it might expand its Lyft partnership to other areas or cities, but he says any moves the company makes will be tested and validated with real-world and simulated data. The service will scale more quickly as time goes on, he says.

May Mobility offers rides through Lyft.

COURTESY OF Lyft and May Mobility

Climb in, Lyfters.

COURTESY OF Lyft and May Mobility

Two US self-driving vehicle firms shut down this past decade after their robotaxis were involved in serious road accidents. In 2018, a testing self-driving vehicle operated by Uber’s Advanced Technologies Group struck and killed a woman in Tempe, Arizona. Uber sold off its self-driving technology to a competitor in 2020. In 2023, General Motors subsidiary Cruise struck a pedestrian in San Francisco after the person was thrown into the empty robotaxi’s path by a collision with another car; state regulators later learned that the Cruise dragged the person 20 feet while it attempted to move out of traffic, and revoked the company’s permit to operate. General Motors got out of the robotaxi business a year later, citing high development costs and a desire to focus on personal vehicles.

Keep On Robotaxiing

Still, robotaxi companies say they have plenty more public deployments on the horizon. Zoox says it will start picking up public riders in San Francisco later this year, and will then launch in Austin and Miami. May Mobility plans to deploy robotaxis in Arlington, Texas, before the end of the year, this time on the Uber platform. Waymo has announced future service in several US cities, including Miami, Washington, DC, and Dallas. Tesla is running a small, invite-only ride-hail service in the California Bay Area with drivers behind the wheel using its more limited Full Self-Driving (Supervised) tech, which requires the person up front to stay alert at all times. Musk plans to move quickly: He said this spring that the company would have “millions” of vehicles operating autonomously by the second half of next year.

Vegas residents can download Zoox’s app.

Chris Noltekuhlmann

Rides are free for the time being.

COURTESY OF ZOOX

Developers of self-driving vehicles have argued that their tech will increase safety and ride efficiency, bringing down prices in the long term. (Of course, these companies will also no longer have to pay a cut of each ride to human drivers.) But even in Phoenix and San Francisco, where Waymo has been running public robotaxis for years, cities have yet to catch a clear glimpse of how the expensive-to-develop technology might transform residents’ lives.

“It’s not at the scale yet where it’s really dramatically changing anything,” says Adam Millard-Ball, an urban planning professor who directs the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies.

Robotaxi services will likely have to get much bigger, Millard-Ball says, before they can prove out their expansive visions. Waymo has released studies suggesting that its tech is safer than human drivers in many situations, but some experts still argue that it’s hard to compare robots’ performance to humans’ given the still-limited number of miles the cars have driven.

“Can this make the rideshare industry grow the pie?” asks Jeremy Bird, Lyft’s executive vice president of driver experience, who collaborated with May Mobility on the Atlanta launch. Bird says Lyft has studied data from where autonomous vehicles have already been deployed, and he thinks the answer is yes. But when robotaxis will become a moneymaking venture is still a big question mark. Clearly, though, plenty of people are still working to find out.

Skincare has a way of taking the body’s own biology, bottling it, and selling it back to us. Hypochlorous acid (HOCl) is the latest example. It’s a weak acid that your white blood cells naturally produce to fight infection and kill bacteria. Now it’s being spritzed across morning and nighttime routines as an all-around skin fix.

But HOCl isn’t new. Hospitals have been using synthetic versions for decades as a disinfectant. In fact, the lab-made form dates back to 1834 and was used in both World Wars. So while #SkinTok makes it sound like a cutting-edge discovery, dermatologists have known its potential for a long time.

Here’s what it is, how it works, and what dermatologists want you to know before adding it to your skincare routine.

Hypochlorous Acid, Clarified

Chemically, HOCl is a weak acid and a potent oxidant. The body produces it during an immune response, but it can also be synthesized in a lab by running an electric current through saltwater. This synthetic version was first developed in 1834, used as a disinfectant during both World Wars, and has long been employed in hospitals for wound care and even in veterinary medicine.

Unlike harsher disinfectants like bleach, HOCl is biodegradable, nontoxic, and free of noxious fumes. Actually, research shows it can kill certain bacteria faster than bleach. In skincare, it’s bottled at ultra-low, stabilized concentrations. “Think of it as your skin’s built-in defense mechanism, bottled,” writes Dr. Mollie Kelly Tufman, molecular biologist and founder of the Beauty Lab.

Why It’s In Skincare

Dermatologists have used HOCl for decades to prevent infection, keep wounds clean, and reduce scarring. Early research suggests potential in treating acne vulgaris, seborrheic dermatitis, and tumor suppression. More recently, it’s popped up as topical sprays and mists, promising to calm breakouts and soothe redness.

Its appeal comes from its antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties. HOCl neutralizes acne-causing bacteria and other microorganisms that trigger flare-ups. “Compared to niacinamide, which works gradually to regulate oil and support your barrier, HOCl is more of a first responder,” writes Tufman. “It shows up fast, calms things down, and makes recovery easier for irritated or breakout-prone skin.”

“Benzoyl peroxide also has antimicrobial effects, but it can be a lot more drying and irritating, so it can lead to rashes or dermatitis,” says board-certified dermatologist Gloria Lin, MD. HOCl, by contrast, is gentle enough for sensitive skin and safe for conditions like eczema, psoriasis, or rosacea. Plus, unlike benzoyl peroxide, it won’t bleach your clothes or towels.

It’s effective for reducing bacteria from helmets, masks, makeup brushes, and sweaty gym gear. Some people spritz it under their arms or on their feet for a quick refresh (though it won’t replace deodorant). In eye care, HOCl is used to help with dry eyes, styes, and conditions like blepharitis and meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD). It can also reduce microbial buildup around the lashes and eyelids.

The Caveats

There are limits. Because it’s an oxidizer, it can interfere with ingredients like vitamin C and other antioxidants. If both are in your regimen, dermatologists suggest spacing them out (vitamin C in the morning, HOCl at night). Lin also says highly acidic exfoliants like strong AHAs can disrupt HOCl’s pH.

Stability is another concern. HOCl breaks down when exposed to light, heat, or poor packaging, so most products come in opaque bottles with stabilizers. Store in a cool spot. Don’t pour it into a different container; the molecule degrades once transferred.

The court delivered a devastating judgment in January 2022. In a 1,700-page ruling, the judge found that Lynch had been “aware of improprieties in Autonomy’s accounting practices” and had been “dishonestly involved in manipulating the accounts.” The systematic accounting practices weren’t just aggressive. They were, the judge concluded, a deliberate scheme to mislead. American prosecutors, who had been waiting for the UK proceedings to conclude, now had the ammunition they needed. Extradition proceedings, already in motion, gained momentum.

VI. Against All Odds

Lynch’s forced travel to the United States in May 2023 marked the beginning of an extraordinary ordeal. Federal prosecutors in San Francisco charged him in a 16-count indictment that included conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, securities fraud, and conspiracy. If convicted on all counts, the 57-year-old faced up to 25 years in prison—effectively a life sentence.

Despite US prosecutors promising the English court that Lynch wouldn’t be incarcerated pretrial, Judge Charles Breyer immediately sent him to jail upon arrival, his lead attorney Reid Weingarten recalled. “That was probably the lowest moment.” He ended up in jail for only one day, though, after posting a $100 million bond. The mathematics of his situation became Lynch’s obsession. “What are the odds?” he would constantly ask his friends and lawyers, especially Weingarten, who found it maddening. “It was the stupidest question ever,” he would later recall. “There’s just too many variables.” At the same time, he respected Lynch’s genuine curiosity—“there was nothing he didn’t know about or didn’t want to know about,” from astrophysics to politics, culture, music, even American baseball.

The trial began in March 2024, with Lynch joined by his former VP of finance Stephen Chamberlain as codefendant. From the start, it was clear that Lynch’s team had it easier. Hussain’s conviction had taught them the playbook of US prosecutors, and they’d had years to ready a new defense. Each night, Lynch and his legal team would work out who the prosecution was going to bring the next day. They also hired a “shadow jury”—a barman and a clerk paid to sit through all 11 weeks of proceedings and register independent impressions.

Most white-collar defendants stay silent; Lynch insisted on taking the stand. He presented himself as a down-to-earth British entrepreneur who had been victimized by American corporate incompetence. He walked the jury through his working-class background, his academic achievements. When prosecutors pressed him on specific transactions, he deflected skillfully—these were matters for the finance team, he was focused on technology and strategy.

One of the most effective moments came when Lynch described the experience with HP. “I watched them take this beautiful company and just wreck it,” he told the jury, emotion creeping in. “And then they had the audacity to blame me for their incompetence.”

The verdict came on June 6, 2024. As the jury foreman read “not guilty” to all remaining charges, Lynch cried. So did his wife. Chamberlain was also acquitted on all counts. Speaking to journalists later, Lynch reflected on what he’d endured: “It’s bizarre, but now you have a second life,” he said. “The question is, what do you want to do with it?”

VII. The Celebration

As part of his recovery process, Lynch planned a long summer aboard the Bayesian, full of friends and celebration. For one particular outing in August, he invited along everyone who stayed close to him during the darkest period of his life. Christopher Morvillo, the Clifford Chance partner who had helped quarterback the US legal strategy, was there with his wife, Neda. Jonathan Bloomer, the Morgan Stanley international executive who had served as a character witness, had accepted the invitation along with his wife, Judy.

The yacht itself was a 56-meter sailing vessel with a dark blue hull and a minimalist ­Japanese-style interior, later referred to by The Times of London as a “masterpiece of engineering and opulence.” The yacht’s original name was Salute; Lynch rechristened it the Bayesian. The vessel was magnificent but also an anomaly: It had a single, towering aluminum mast.

The following account is drawn from official investigation reports, videos, photos, and people familiar with the accounts of the crew and survivors. The August sailing was planned as a leisurely tour of Sicily’s northern coast and Aeolian Islands. The group started in Milazzo, then spent four days exploring the volcanic archipelago. They anchored off Isola di Vulcano one day for a few hours to watch the active crater glow against the sky, visited Panarea, and enjoyed the crystal clear waters around Dattilo. It was exactly the kind of relaxed, intimate celebration Lynch had envisioned. It was also a sendoff for Hannah, an aspiring poet. The two loved to spar over meals, arguing about politics and world events, with Lynch playing the contrarian.

That weekend, Lynch received two devastating calls from Andy Kanter about Stephen Chamberlain, his Autonomy codefen­dant. The first call, on Saturday, Lynch answered with a happy hello—laughter and cheer audible in the background—before Kanter delivered what he called “the gravest news”: Chamberlain, a middle-aged soccer fan and avid runner, had been struck by a car while jogging and suffered a traumatic head injury. By Sunday’s call, the news was worse: The hospital was turning off life support. The group aboard the Bayesian lit a candle for Chamberlain in the church at Cefalù.